Sunday, January 19, 2014

Greater love hath no fan

The shift from neighborhood pub to Seahawks sanctuary didn't happen overnight. For years [Jerry] Zech would watch games at the bar with a handful of friends - and sometimes by himself - often drawing the ire of locals.

"It took a long time to get things off the ground and it was really difficult," he said. "I spent a lot of time in there with a target on my back."

Then Zech undertook an aggressive promotion campaign, which included encouraging friends to write on Yelp and other websites that Danny Coyle's was the place to be for Seahawks die-hards. Those reviews would then pop up when like-minded fans did Internet searches, looking for a place to watch a game.

"One became two, two became five and five became what you have today," he said.What you have today is a lime green plume of algae in an ocean of red and gold. Last Saturday, when Seattle beat the New Orleans Saints in the divisional playoff round, lines of fans decked out in jerseys jockeyed for position in front of the bar.

Pro-Seahawks chants - often led by Zech - could be heard echoing down the surrounding streets.

The bar hung a "12th man" jersey from the front window, a reference to the famously loud fans at Seattle's home stadium.